Galliano, 50, was sacked from his position as creative director of Christian Dior last week, after an anti-Semitic scandal for which he is due to stand trial in France in the summer. He is currently believed to be in rehab in the United States.

Toledano had said before the Dior catwalk show last Friday that it had "been deeply painful to see the Dior name associated with the disgraceful statements attributed to its designer, however brilliant he may be."

The intimate presentation, held in a flower and antique-strewn mansion in the Avenue Foch, recalled the glory days of Galliano's early years in Paris.

The models strolled across Turkish carpets in hourglass tweed and wool suiting, fringed and trimmed with fur and accessorised with feathered head-pieces; cashmere cocoon coats with stitched, satin hems; and open-back, printed silk shirts, tucked into draped pencil skirts, lavished with bows on one side.

A tapering, kimono-coat, in celadon-green, lavishly embroidered, and embellished with black fox, evoked Galliano's fascination with the 1920's. A black PVC and black tulle short, belted 'mac', worn with a violet chiffon slip dress, was a reminder of his ability to suggest sensuality.